By Calm Water
by Krimzonrayne
Summary: Little Motoko chan is all grown up. At 17, she's already a powerful swordswoman in her own right... so there's no reason for Ranma to worry about her at all, nope nope nope. But what about that perverted new manager at her all girls' dorm? Love Hina Cross
1. All things' relative

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**'_By Calm Water'_**

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By Krimzonrayne no Akai Kou Hana and Rayne no Akai Hinageshi.

**Chapter One: All things' relative**

Disclaimer: I understand now that these things are legally useless… so from now on my story won't have them… but, just for one last time , Ranma ½ and Love Hina are not mine, they belong to Rumiko-sama and that dude Ken… my apparent causal disregard for proper grammar, spelling and sentence structures aren't mine either… they're my dyslexia shining through…

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A **house** is the building or structure in which one lives; **home** is the place one lives with the pleasant connotations or family ties included.

* * *

"Ranma…" 

Akane called out to the slightly demure pig tailed boy who continued trotting ahead as if he hasn't heard her call. She picked up her pace and caught up to him. She tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Huh?" Ranma muttered, looking at his fiancée in confusion. "What is it Akane?"

"Why didn't you answer, I've been calling you for ages." The girl gave him a small scowl. She wasn't mad or anything, just a little worried that's all… and it's not because she liked him or anything!

"Sorry." The martial artist apologized absentmindedly.

That was weird. Getting Ranma 'Man amongst man' Saotome to apologize is usually like trying to pry opens the jaw of a crocodile, an exercise of futility if there ever was one. The girl hesitated for a second before her concern over road her hesitation.

"Are you okay? I mean, you've been really quiet since we came out of the cinema."

"Well you can't really blame him can you, Akane." A sarcastic comment floated by them. It was Nabiki Tendo, the self-heralded Ice Queen of Furinkan and an annoying big sister to one Akane Tendo.

"I mean his first movie in years and it had to be one like _that_. Why, even I was almost tempted to complain and ask for my money back."

"Hey, how was I to know Curse of the Golden Flower would turn out to be like that? The poster, the advertisement… everything pointed towards it's being a decent martial arts film." Akane protested.

"Well it wasn't 'a decent martial art film' now, was it?" Nabiki countered sardonically. She wasn't deliberately being mean but that last gruesome scene still weighed heavily on her mind… and she just spent a good three hours watching a whole film of scenes like that too, a good three Sunday's afternoon hours.

"I guess you're right… still, I can't believe they ended it like that…" Akane conceded with a sigh.

"Yeah, especially that last scene, right?"

POP!

The bag of popcorn that's been left untouched since the first ten minutes into the film exploded in Ranma's now tightly clenched fist, showering the pavement with slightly buttered, snow white puffs.

"See you guys at home. I, ah, have something I got do." The pig tailed boy mubbled out a hasty goodbye and began hopping away.

"Ranma!" Akane shouted after the boy. Watching him go, she called out softly one more time.

"Ranma…"

It started so innocently; a month or so has passed since the failed wedding and she'd finally built up enough courage to ask him to go out for a movie. When he'd accident blurted out 'l… like a d…date?' she'd lost her nerved and asked Nabiki to come along as well.

At that point it still wasn't so bad… Ranma was quite excited (it was his first time going to a cinema after all) and he put that little hurdle out of his mind soon enough. He grumbled at bit at not being able to score extra scoops on his ice cream cone because he was in his male form and Akane teased him about that a little.

And instead of getting into a fight like they used to, the pair traded name calling then stared at each other for a while before bursting out laughing.

Things were starting to look up.

She had to yell at Ranma once when the movie was starting, he was making big fuzz about the advertisement… the silly idiot thought they were in the wrong cinema, can you believe it? Thinking back now it was rather funny how child-like her pig tailed fiancée can be at times.

And then the movie began in earnest.

* * *

The Curse of the Golden Flower was not a bad film. 

Despite what Nabiki and Akane have said, it was not a bad film at all. He supposed it's not like he can really judge or anything… after all, it was the first movie he'd ever watched. And it hasn't been quite what he'd expected at all… sure there was a lot of action and some of those scenes looked really cool but you could never call Curse of the Golden Flower a martial art flick.

No.

No martial art flick has a story like that… He'd seen re-runs of old films on televisions before and he's pretty he knows what a generic kung fu film's plot line is like… a young man fight evil crime lord to save his pretty girl friend… an exiled prince coming back to liberate his kingdom…

No, the Curse of the Golden Flower was not like that at all.

It was a story of a family… a family who let their misguided sense of nobility to destroy the only bond that held them together. Here pride, honor and spirit weren't glorified; no, they were crushed, proven wrong and defaced.

No, the Curse of the Golden Flower was definitely NOT a martial art film.

But…

He _liked_ it.

Well sorta of…

He didn't exactly like it… he wasn't even sure what he thought about it. The scenes, especially that last one, lingered deeply within his mind.

It made him think. Over and over, it made him thing.

Lack of comparison aside, Ranma's pretty sure that this was what good film is supposed to be like.

"Oh my, welcome home." Kasumi chimed in respond as he slipped off his shoes and step into the house. "You're back early, Ranma-kun."

Not quite sure how he should answer that (Really, was that a question or a statement?), the boy walked passed the Tendo girl and head straight into the living room. He spotted the phone on the counter and went over to pick it up.

He quickly dialed a number he'd committed to memory sometime ago and cradled the phone against his ear. The tone rang for a bit before some on the other side picked up.

"_Aoyama resident, this is Aoyama Kenjou speaking. How may I help you?"_

"Em… can I talk to Tsuruko please?" Ranma said into the handset.

"_If you'd hold for a second, I'll go get her for you…" _The guy on the other end paused a bit_. "By the way, may I ask who's speaking?" _

"I'm Ranma, Saotome Ranma."

"_Nodoka's son? How are you doing? We haven't heard from you since New Year."_

"I'm fine…" If you discount the whole duel to death with a Phoenix God thing that is… or the mess with fiancées… or the gender bending curse… "I've been busy I guess."

"_That's good to hear… I'll go get my wife for you now, hold on a sec."_

Calls of 'Tsuruko', 'Dear' and 'Honey' could be heard coming faintly from somewhere nearby. The pig tailed martial artist stood tapping his foot impatiently for almost a minute before softly crackling alert told him someone just picked up the phone.

"_Ah little Ranma, how do you fare these day?" _A deceptively sweet-sounding voice chimed over the phone.

Ranma sweat dropped. Little Ranma? Sure she's almost eight years older than he was but he's eighteen for crying out loud.

"I'm okay I guess. I called 'cause…" That was all he'd gotten out before Tsuruko cut in.

"_That's really good, Ranma-han. Tell me, are you married yet? Is that why you've called, to invite us to your wedding?"_

The pig tailed boy face faulted.

"NO!" He yelled into the receiver, sweating like crazy as he did so. He groaned and continued in an exasperated tone. "No… I'm only just finishing high school this year Tsuruko."

"_Ah that's too bad."_

Too bad? Good lord, what's with these Aoyama women and their obsession with marriage? Progeny is important, okay, he understood that but reminding him about it everything time they've met was a bit much wasn't it? First it was just his mum but now Tsuruko is doing it as well; good thing little Motoko-chan isn't like that.

Speaking of Motoko-chan…

"Say… is Motoko-chan there? I'd like to talk to her."

"_Oh my… I was not aware the two of you are back on speaking term already. After all, that was an awfully bad fight you two had."_

"Fight? …what fight?" The boy asked feeling slightly confused. What is she talking about? The last time he and Motoko-chan had seen each other was when he and Nodoka went to Kyoto for a visit. That was on during New Years… Oh crap.

He suddenly remembered exactly how that visit went… in frighteningly vivid detail…

"…_."_

"…." Ranma scratched the back of his head uncomfortably, this suddenly silence was creeping him out.

"…_."_

"Why did you go all quiet, Tsuruko?" He asked slowly, fearing what kind of answers he might receive.

"_My my, I thought you were having one of those long winded flash back and so I did not wish to interrupt you."_

Ranma's face painfully made contact with the floor.

"Why would you think that?!?" He yelled into the receiver.

"_But Motoko-han does it all the time and in that manner the two of you are exact copies of each other."_

'And you are exact copies of Mum, especially in the area of spaziness.' The martial artist mentally commended, all the while shaking his head resignedly as he did so.

Dang it, he's really getting sidetracked here.

"Em…so anyway, can I talk to Motoko-chan?" Ranma repeated the question to Tsuruko once again. 'She can't still be angry… after this long… can she?

He suddenly remembered what happened with Ryoga, Ucchan and Shampoo… and Ryu Kumon… and… and…

Oh crap, she CAN still be holding a grudge against him.

"_I am afraid you cannot, Ranma-han. You see, Motoko-han does not reside here. In fact, she has not for many years now."_

"Huh? But last what about January? When me and Ma went over…" Ranma drifted off meaningfully.

"_Once a blue moon she would join us for a few days, often time it'd be during New Year and other such festivities. Three month previous was one of such rarity."_

"So em… where is she staying right now?"

"_I believe Motoko-ha is currently living in a female dormitory called Hinata. I shall recite the phone number for you if you wish."_

Ranma quickly jotted down the number Tsuruko gave him and bid her farewell before hanging up the phone. He stared at piece of paper with the phone number for a short while, debating whether or not to call Motoko. If he recalled correctly, she's still extremely pissed off at him.

…

"I guess there's no help for it." The boy grumbled softly to himself before picking up the phone once more. He dialed the number and stood listening to it ring.

"…_H-Hello…?"_ A really shaky voice stuttered out.

"Hi, is this Hinata-sou?"

"_Y-Yes, m-may I ask who's speaking?"_

"This is Ranma Saotome, could'ya get me Motoko-chan please? I'd like to speak to her."

"_I-I don't know any- I-I'm sorry sir, I just moved in yesterday and I don't know the tenants very well. I-I'll go get Naru-sempai!"_

Ranma sweat dropped… Did he just make a random girl cry…over the phone?! … How the heck did that happen?!?

There was a sound of flurry of foot steps coming from the phone… as if someone just dropped the thing and was now running away from it.

"_I-I'm sorry!"_

Ranma pictured the scene in his head and sweat dropped even more… Okay, this is just getting a bit too silly now… even by _his_ standard. He walked over to a nearby chair and sat down, the cord trailing along behind him like a slinky.

"_Naru-sempai! Where are you, Naru-sempai?!"_

Nothing…

…

Damn it, why is it taking her so long? How big can this Hinata place be anyway?

"_Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!"_

Ranma stood up in a huff, the phone almost dropped off his hand. What the heck was that?

Wait a sec… that scream…

Motoko-chan?

"_You lecherous vile perverted stalker, how dare you pray on innocent maiden?!?"_

That WAS Motoko-chan. But she's pretty darn good with that sword of her, how could some pervert get a drop on her like that? Unless…

An image of a decrepit-looking yet extremely powerful old man appeared in the bubble above Ranma's head.

Happosai? Nah, it can't be… He just punted the old freak to China this morning. Unless…

The image blurred and a second later, where there was one before, was now two.

The pig tailed boy whole body shuddered involuntarily.

"_No no no, you got it all wrong, I live here!" _A deeper and more masculine voice protested. If our favorite pig tailed hero would listen more closely, he'd realized that the voice sounded exactly like he himself would when he's stammering an excuse for Akane.

But, as we all know, Ranma never pays any attention to stuff like that.

"_Spare me your feeble lie! This is an all girls dormitory." _A voice which Ranma now recognized as Motoko-chan's roared over the boy's.

"_Are you alright sempai… AH!!! I-I'm sorry… I-I m-mean..." _That was that stuttering girl from earlier, the one who picked up the phone.

"_Hey ya Motoko!" _A heavily accented yet feminine voice called out.

"_Hey, what's with all the fuzz, I couldn't even concentra… Ah Motoko-chan, you're back from the training camp already? And what are you doing?" _Yet another voice had said. From her pitch, the owner was undoubtedly a girl.

"_S-Stalker! It's a stalker; he snuck in and peeked at me while I was changing!" _Motoko said.

What!!! That bastard peeked at little Motoko-chan?

"_Wait Motoko-chan. He's our new manager."_

…

The phone fell from Ranma's nerveless hand and clattered on the floor. His eyes twitched as he tried to refrain himself from over reacting.

"I'm coming Motoko-chan!"

Tried was, of course, the practical word there.

* * *

"This is absolutely unacceptable!" 

Motoko Aoyama, the seventeen years old master swordswoman of the Shinmei School of Swordsmanship, bellowed at her friends and the single most perverted and vile male. There were currently at the dinner table and are discussing things out reasonably like other civilized human being... well they _were_ but that was before she realized the discussion wasn't about the male manager thing being a joke.

…

'They cannot be serious!' The kendo girl yelled indignantly in her mind. 'Males cannot be a girls' dormitory's manager! They're good for nothing but despicable, foul demons… they're the corrupters of pure maidens… they beguiled and steal away your beloved sister… they befriend you and left you when you needed them the most…

"Come on now Motoko-chan, there's no need to get so worked up." Naru sempai, the girl with long cascading blond hair and an athletic figure, said placating.

'There no need to get work up?' Motoko repeated mentally, starring at the other girl.

She, Naru Narusegawa, was one year older than she was and although Motoko used to look up her in the past, the swordswoman in exactly happy with her at the moment. How could she! Motoko had thought Naru, of all people, would've known better than to allow this travesty to occur.

"It's outrageous for a young man to reside in a girls' dormitory," Grasping straws, Motoko turned to the new tenant, Shinobu, a young girl who moved in while she was on camp. She turned to the vile stalker who was shuffling about uncomfortably in his seat (Good for him, and if he knows what he got coming… he'd be doing a more than that) and finished her statement. "Especially now that we have such a young resident living here, it's unseemly!"

…

"…E-Em… if you're worried about me… I-I don't mind if Urashima-sempai stays here…" The incredibly diffident looking girl said softly, fidgeting with her hands.

'Of course you do not, you are far too pure and naïve to understand the true evils the likes of _him_ possesses.' The kendo practitioner thought irritably. But before she can voice it out loud, another had already opened her mouth.

"Me, neither." Mitsune Konno or, as her friend liked to call her, Kitsune added. "He's gonna to be a lawyer or a businessman someday. He won't do anything stupid."

"He's a Todai student!" Kaolla Su, the eccentric foreign girl whom Motoko was quite fond of, chorused cheerfully in that heavily accented Japanese of her.

"Uh-huh!" Kitsune nodded as if what Su just said justified everything.

"How can you vouch for him just because he goes to Tokyo U (Toudai)?" This time Motoko did vocalized her feeling of the matter.

This did not fazed Mitsune 'the Fox' Konno one bit. She smiled pleasantly and answered.

"Well… it's just a feeling."

"Yeah, and he's Keitaro!" Su chimed in once again.

"Uh-huh." Kitsune repeated her nodded with a strange little grin.

"Those are not valid reasons!" Motoko roared in disgust. How could they be so willing to trust a male to a job like this?

"Look if he does do something stupid, we'll just make him pay, how about that?" Kitsune said with a sigh, trying to reason with the kendo practitioner. She turned to the boy and winked playfully at him "Right?"

"If I do something? Excuse me, what exactly do you mean by _'pay'_? The pathetic male beside Motoko asked, raising this hand bashfully.

The swordswoman looked back and forth between Kitsune and Su before turning to her only hope, Naru-sempai, the only remaining tenant who's sane enough to really the perversity of this situation.

"Naru-sempai…" Motoko cried. 'Do something', she wanted to add but such words didn't come easily out of her mouth.

Naru-sempai rested her chin against her hands and sighed.

"What choice do we have?" She said in a somber tone. "No one else wants to be our manager. If he doesn't do it then Hinata-sou will be closed down and we'll all have to leave."

That look of resignation… she'd given up? She's letting him stay?

Having lost all her potential supporters, Motoko stumbled back a step. She looked a bit dazed as she muttered. "Preposterous…"

She turned back to Naru-sempai once more but the older girl had looked away, not meeting her eyes. "Well, you _did_ say you'd go along with whatever we decided." She said quietly in lieu of an excuse.

That was the last straw… now Motoko was completely at her wit's end. What could she do? What could she say? She looked from one tenant to another with a feeling of dread and confusion until her eyes finally came to rest upon one Keitaro Urashima, the new MALE manager of the Hinata girls' dormitory.

He, HE, was sitting there looking up at her timidly. His posture was somewhat slouched over… weak and without confident. His aura was nothing out of norm. Suddenly their eyes met and she could feel his hope shining through.

"…?!?" Motoko could feel her cheek redden as she averted her gaze.

'Why am I blushing?' She thought furiously to herself. 'Could it possibly be that I am…"

That line of thought was killed before it could begin to form. With her self-control snapped firmly back into place, the kendo girl spun around and stalked off.

* * *

It took Ranma a surprisingly small amount of time (for him anyway) to find out where Hinata-sou. Later on, looking back, he'd probably be amazed with how logical he approached the dilemma and solved it… looking where he knew there were information… calling the operator… getting a map… doing all of those things instead of running around like a chicken with its head chopped off… 

It was now an hour or so after the incident with the phone call. He'd calmed down a bit since then but still intended to go see Motoko-chan anyway, if not to save her then to visit her at least.

Event as dense as he's, he still realized he'd overreacted. After all, if he remembered correctly, Motoko-chan has been awarded the complete mastery of her style since she was fifteen… there's no way one lousy pervert can get to her… not even if he's her dorm's manager.

Still… it'd be nice to see her again… even if she's still pissed off at him.

Ranma cringed as he began to remember the incident that occurred when he and Nodoka has visited the Aoyama during New Year.

_**How could you! How could you abandon me like that!? You're just like the rest of them! I hate you Ranma Saotome! I. Hate. You.**_

_Kanagawa Station, approaching Kanagawa Station! All passengers heading for Gunma Station and Shin (new) Negano Station please change train here. _

Ranma shook himself out of his reverie and stood up. All that was in the past now, there's no point in worrying about it any longer.

The train slowed down and came to a stop. The intercom speaker wished the pig tailed boy a good day as he stepped off the train He made his way from the station and stopped at one of the souvenir shop located nearby to ask for direction.

"Hey Aunty, could ya tell me the way's Hinata-sou?" Ranma asked the middle aged woman standing behind the counter.

"It's that's way." She said good-naturedly, pointing down the street. "It's the only building on that mountain, just go that way until you hit the steps and follows those up, you can't miss it."

"That way, the steps and up, gotcha, thanks Aunty!" The young man waved good bye to the nice shop keeper and bounded off in the direction she just gave to him.

Within minutes after he left the souvenirs shop, Ranma was already bounding up the steps, taking a couple each times. He seemed to a lot less tense than earlier as he'd all but forgotten about the movie which made him worried in the first place.

…

"OUGI: ZAN KUU SEN!!!"

Ranma ears perked up at the scream. 'Ultimate technique: Air Cleaving Sword'? That's one of the Shinmei school secret techniques… that was Motoko-chan?!?!

Crap!

The young martial artist sprinted to the top of the steps and ran inside the large inn. No more cries of techniques came but he could still hear the explosions that are rocking the old building about.

Following the shouts and cries, he found himself in an outdoor communal both of a sort and he wasn't alone.

"Hey! Could one of you girls tell me what's going on here?" Ranma said to the bunch of girls gathered around the washing area. It looked like they're watching some kind of showdown or something.

One of the two taller girls spun around and opened her mouth to say something. But whatever it was, it mustn't have been important 'cause she just stood there gaping at him. The other one, the one with beady eyes and short, grey hair, instantly brightened upon seeing the pig tailed martial artist. She seemed to slink over to where he was and latched onto him.

"Hey there stud. I'm Mitsune Konno but you can call me Kitsune anytime." She cooed into his ears. "Oh by the way, what's your name?"

Having more or less grown accustomed to such enthusiastic behaviors (You have to be with three official fiancées and one of who's an affectionate Amazon), he wasn't one bit fazed by it and just answered the question normally.

"Ranma Saotome of the Saotome Anything Goes School of Martial Arts." He spouted off his name and school almost reflexively.

The girl with long, light brown haired seemed to have recovered from her stupor. She shook her head as if to clear it before walking over to the two of them and stared at Ranma intently.

"Hey, what are you doing here? You know that this is an all girls' dorm, right?" She asked him.

"Yeah, I know. I'm just here to see Motoko-chan."

"Motoko…_chan_?!?!" The two girls screamed as one.

Ranma sweat dropped, did he just said something wrong?

"Ah!" Another girl, this one with short dark blue hair, cried out in fright. She seemed to be starring at something on the roof. Ranma followed her gaze and found what caused her to cry out.

Up on the roof was two people, one of them was a girl in red and white hakama (think Kuno-baka-sempai) (1) holding a sword in high guard while the other was a guy in t-shirt and trousers.

The girl was none other than Motoko-chan.

"Em… Can you tell me what's going on here?" He repeated his question, this time a little louder.

"I'm not sure myself; Keitaro said something about a duel… and that if she wins then he won't be a manager anymore…" The long haired girl said.

"B-but M-Motoko-sempai can't f-fight right now! She's has a fever, she should be resting." The blue haired girl stuttered out.

"AH!" Somebody gasped out in surprise causing Ranma to turn his eyes back to the fight.

…

Then he saw it.

Almost as if the world had slow down, he could see Motoko-chan tipped over and started to fall slowly.

"MOTOKO-CHAN!" Ranma yelled, pushing off the ground with his legs. He shot upwards and intercepted the sword wielding girl just as she was about to fall off the roof. He caught her in a tight hug and cradled and gently to his chest before landing lightly on the roof.

He spun around and glared at the guy who looked like he was about to leap at them, probably to attack Motoko again!

"You bastard! How could you! Fighting a girl is one thing, but forcing a girl to fight while she's in no condition to do so is another!" Ranma barked at the stunned man. He was so angry now that his aura was plainly visible and his ki was rolling off him in malevolent-looking waves.

This seemed to have an effect on the somnolent girl. She slowly creaked her eyes opened and said the first thing she saw in her hazy vision.

"…A-Aniue?" (2)

* * *

(1) Hakama is a thicker and tougher version of yukata (night wear) used all year round by samurai in the old days 

(2) Older brother, used to refer to YOUR older brother only… onii-san can be used to refer to a male person who's older than you by a year or two as well as your older brother.

Author's note: Oho ho ho ho hGACK! Cough Cough

Damn it, I'm NOT doing that again.

Anyway, here's another offering from lil ole me, I hope you enjoyed it. I've wanted to write a Love Hina fic for a while now but I never really know where to start… I mean, the series was done with an Epilogue… and because I actually liked the Epilogue, there's not much left to do…

So what did you think, please tell me cause I'd really appreciate it.

* * *

p.s. This is gonna set me back a bit on my release for This Sky… I was intending to wait for the big holiday to post volume two of Like Folding Alice anyway… 


	2. Four letters words

'_**By Calm Water'**_

* * *

By Krimzonrayne no Akai Kou Hana and Rayne no Akai Hinageshi.

Chapter Two: Four letters words.

* * *

The thing about love is that it's infinitely divisible. If you need more love you just share it and it'll never runs out.

Now that I think about it, it's kind of like Chaos actually.

* * *

(Note: Bolden and Italics means it's a flashback / memory sequence)

Three months earlier

"_**Motoko-han!"**_

_**The said Motoko blinked once and stood up a little straighter. She tried to shrug off the little shiver she felt tingling down her spine at hearing that voice and looked up into the eyes of the one she'd grown to respect… and fear…**_

_**Tsuruko Aoyama, the most skilled and powerful warrior to have graced the Shinmei School in decades, the former candidate to the seat of the head of Shinmei school, the full master swordswoman of the Shinmei School…**_

_**Her older sister…**_

"_**Oh my, what a pleasant surprise, it's good to see you again, Sister dear." She continued in her pleasant voice. "Although I do wonder, why is it that you have not called ahead? I would have gone and welcome you at the train station."**_

_**Motoko opened her mouth and answer but the word didn't come out.**_

_**The younger woman took a step back, feeling slightly awed and scared at the same time. She'd known that Tsuruko would be here but it still didn't help her prepare for the encounter any.**_

_**It has been almost a year since Motoko had last seen her older sister and her mental image of the ex-heiress continued to grow more and more frightening.**_

_**It was an irrational fear but… but…**_

"_**H-Hello S-Sister," Motoko clamped her mouth shut and paused to reign in her nerves before opening it again. "I trust you have been well in my absence?"**_

"_**I have, Sister dear. Kenjou have been treating me well indeed." Tsuruko answered with her eerily agreeable smile.**_

_**Motoko's firm resolved crumbled at the mention of the name Kenjou, the male who'd bewitched her older sister away from her. Her mouth formed a thin line that curved ever so slightly downwards on both ends.**_

"_**Will you excuse me, Sister? I need to freshen up before the guests begin to arrive." The kendo girl muttered softly before walking passed her older sister and into house.**_

_**Motoko put a hand against her widely beating heart and sighed softly to herself. Her mind wondered off as she slowly made her way deeper into the Aoyama compound.**_

'_**Why is it so hard? Why am I so afraid of her? I should hate her, or at least be angry, for what she did, leaving me like that… but I could not, the most I ever did was be irritate at her…. And this fear… this fear…**_

…_**why does it keep growing?'**_

_**She sighed once again.**_

_**It was a good thing that none of the tenants has ever been more than slightly curious about her life. Because if she ever had to try to explain her situation to Naru-sempai or Mitsune, they'd probably conclude on one thing…she's messed up.**_

_**Motoko arrived at her old room. She unceremoniously slid the door open before stepping inside and closing it behind here. She placed her travel luggage on the floor and took a look around. The room… it's exactly the same as it was before she'd left. **_

_**Over by the corner of her room laid an elfin little paper screening. It depicts a picture of a mountain-side stream and she used to use to get change when she was little. To the right of it were a little tea set and a low table with a set of drawers. **_

_**This was where she used to serve tea while she was working on her calligraphy with her older brother and older sister. It was all coming back to her now…learning how to hold a brush… listening to Aniue complaining about the boredom of the pen art… watching him getting thwacked in the head for falling asleep or trying to sneak off…**_

_**Motoko felt a small smile forming on her mouth; those were good times indeed**_

_**Her eyes suddenly narrowed as she felt a presence sneaking up behind here.**_

_**Whirling around, she called forth her 'ki', her internal power and, with a flourish movement of her sword, manifested it in form of blazing wind which she'd sent hurling toward the would-be spy or assassin.**_

* * *

_**Present**_

"YOU SCOUNDREL!"

"Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!" The skulking figure of a male screamed loudly as he was launched high into the cool afternoon air before falling back down and landing in a crumbling heap on the deck.

Motoko dashed over to where the vile male was lying, he appeared to be slightly charred from her attack. She thrust out her sword and held it threateningly over his throat; for all intent and purposes, she looked exactly like an axe-wielding executioner would.

"YOU!" The kendo girl roared. "You have some nerve! Spying on my while I was training like that!"

She was up on the veranda practicing and horning her skill with the blade by slicing stray leaves that happen to flutter by. Because the movements were so ingrained into her body, it didn't take long before her mind started to wonder. She was reminiscing about the last time she'd seen her older brother… No! Not her older brother… she doesn't have one… never even had one in the first place…

Whatever the case may be, that was when she caught their new so-called 'manager', Keitaro Urashima, spying on her training… doubtlessly to gain some advantage against her for their inevitable clash…

"No, no! I-I just came here to talk." Keitaro started to explain himself, trying to ignore sharp gleaming steel in his face.

…or perhaps so he could best her in combat in order to corner and do unspeakable deeds to her…

Motoko blushed furiously, oh god, what was she thinking just then?!? Was it just her or has the air became warmer all of the sudden?

"I have no interest in talking with the likes of you!" She yelled at him with an angry shake of her head. Her cheeks were nice shades of crimson but luckily for her the new landlord was for too scared to realize.

"But as the manager, it's my duty to…"

"I have already told you! I DO NOT accept you as our apartment manager!"

Suddenly a flash of heat wave passed through every sinew in her body and her knee began to buckle. She struggled to breath, feeling weaker than you'd been for a long time… so very, very weak…

… for a second her world seemed to have faded away…

"Motoko-chan!" Someone cried out.

_**Motoko-chan!**_

Warm… it was warm… where was she? …so warm…

She forced her eyes lid opened and found herself starring into a kind and gentle face… one that remained her of another she'd seen a long time ago…

Slowly the blur focused and she could now make out the glasses that weren't in the face she'd remembered…

This wasn't her brother! This was…

"Keitaro Urashima! HOW DARE YOU!"

And with that, she sent the treacherous conniving male into the air once more… A little higher this time as her 'ki' was fueled by her anger.

He reached the apex of his flight and began falling down, crashing spectacularly into the inclined roof of the main building. His sorry and somewhat smoking form rolled down the tiled roof, smashed through the wooden fence and came to a stop on the veranda near her.

"Is he dead?" Kitsune asked offhandedly, meaning at as a joke of some sort.

"Looks like he's still alive." Naru-sempai commented.

"Oh Urashima-sempai!" Shinobu, the new girl, uttered worriedly, sounding like she'd burst into tears any minutes now.

"Keitaro!" Kaolla chirped in her ever vivacious voice. "Did the earth look blue from up there?"

Motoko just stood there feeling a little nostalgic.

…

"Pull yourself together!" Naru said as she leaned closer to his prone frame. Shinobu began chanting 'Urashima-san, Urashima-san' nervously in the back ground and Kaolla, the dark skinned foreign girl, materialized a stick from thin air and started poking his stilled body with it.

"Keitaro, are you playing dead?" She asked playfully.

A couple of meters away stood Motoko, she was rather confused with her feeling at the moment. That emotion she'd felt… just in that second before she lashed out at him… what was that?

Why does he remind her so much of her dear Aniue and Aneue?

_**Aneue! Aneue! Why are you leaving? Did I do something wrong? Please tell me, I promise I will never do it again! Please!**_

_**Aneue!**_

_**No, not you too Aniue! Why do you have to go? Don't leave! You promised!**_

_**Aniue!**_

"What are you doing?! Don't play around like that." Naru-sempai scolded him half-heartedly.

Motoko pulled herself out of her reverie and looked at the scene presented before her. Keitaro was now sitting up, looking slightly worse-for-wear but not as dead as he seemed to be a second ago. Naru-sempai and other tenants were crowding around him, studying him rather carefully. They all had a concerned look on their face.

"Well, I eh…" He began rather sheepishly.

Looking at him, being surrounded by so many girls, the kendo girl began to feel an unfamiliar feeling rising within her.

Was this jealousy?

Motoko gave a little huff and left.

Quickly descending the stairs and leaving the dorm, before she'd noticed it, she was already on the steps leading away from Hinata-sou. Pushing the thought of what she was doing (running away) aside for the moment, she began concentrating on working out the range of feelings and emotions she was going through earlier.

'Why? Why is it that just making eye contact with Urashima makes me feel lightheaded and unable to breath?' She asked herself, feeling her hand sliding up to where her chest was bind, tracing it over where her heart lies.

'Just looking at him makes my heart race.'

She came to a step as there were no more steps to walk down. Suddenly, a thought struck her… could it be that she's falling in….

'It can't be!' She protested angrily against herself.

…

'But what other explanation is there?'

Love? Her first love?!?!

"First love…?" She mumbled softly to herself, rolling the words over in her mouth. It did not feel entirely unpleasant at all.

But…

But… she'd never… not again… never again…

"I REFUSE TO ACCEPT IT!!!" Motoko roared, unsheathing her sword in one swift movement.

Elsewhere, a certain Tokyo University aspirant sneezed loudly, feeling a sudden chill.

It could not be love… could it? If not, what could it be though?

* * *

"You know, Motoko, people catch colds when they get soaked in rain and swing their swords around when it's chilly outside.

"A cold?" Motoko said in wonderment, feeling a little numb at the revelation. She was current bundled in thick blanket and stuffed into her futon under even more layers of warm, warm blanket.

After her supposed epiphany, the kendo practitioner had tried appealing to Naru once more to see if she could convince her to kick that annoying male out of their dormitory.

Just as she found out that fool Urashima was Grandma Hina's (the previous manager's) grandson, the pervert himself popped in unannounced, as if to peep in or Naru-sempai. She subsequently floored him with her air cleaving sword technique. At first she thought she had miscalculated the amount of 'ki' she'd use in the attack because she collapsed almost right after performing it.

However, it appeared that that was not the case. Instead, it was…

"Yep. It's a cold." Kaolla, Hinata-sou's makeshift doctor, confirmed looking at the thermometer critically. "And a fever too."

"I see…" Motoko mumbled weakly. "So it wasn't love…?"

At this point, she smiled at bit; it was as if that was the first good news she's heard all day.

"Thank goodness it wasn't love…" She amen before closing her eyes and started going to sleep.

….

Then it hit her.

"KEITARO URASHIMA!!!

…you took advantage of my delicate heart while I was taken ill with a fever! How contemptible! What treacherous cruelty!"

Motoko's fist shook angrily as she declared her vengeance to the world.

"Damn you Urashima! How dare you defile my pristine heart with the notion that you might be my first love! You will pay…

YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!!!"

Ignoring Kaollo's surprised gawking, Motoko hopped off the mattress and rushed over to her sword stand. She removed Shishui, her dear sword and companion as well snatched one of the practice swords before she ran out the room, heading for a single male occupant of the building.

Keitaro Urashima…

Prepare to die!!!

…

"URASHIMA!!" Motoko barked at the young man, slamming the door to his room opened.

"C-Can I help you?" Keitaro stuttered out fearfully. He knew whatever it was she wanted with him, it won't be pretty.

"Face me Urashima, I challenge you to a duel!"

"Huh? A _duel_?" The manager said dumbly to which Motoko snorted at with disgust, it was as if he'd never heard of the word before.

"Spare me your babbling!" The kendo girl yelled at him, once again she was fed up with him and his incompetence. She threw the practice sword over to him and drew out her own sword.

Holding Shishui in a frontal ready position, Motoko began dictating the term of the duel to him.

"If you win this duel, I shall accept you as our apartment manager. However, if _I_ win…"

"I-If you win…?"

"I will become the manager! Then you will no longer be needed here!" At this, she gave him a nasty sneer before finishing her speech. "You will leave at once!"

Without waiting for his response, Motoko raised her sword over her head and charged him at full speed, intending on finishing the fight in one fell swoop.

CLANG!

Keitaro somehow manage brought up the sheathed sword from his side and blocked the first blow. But whether it was survival instinct or sheer luck, we may never know. Motoko stumbled backward, feeling the force of the blow reflected back into her wrists. She moved about almost drunkenly for a second before she was able to once again control her fever-weakened body.

"Are you okay?" Keitaro asked empathetically, sounding as if he was deeply concern for her well being.

_**Are you okay, Motoko-chan?**_

Motoko almost let her guards dropped. Almost.

'Fool! What are you doing? Focus! You almost fell for the oldest trick in the book!' The swordswoman mentally berated herself.

"I will not fall for your tricks! You took me for a fool because I avoid men?!" She yelled at him, repositioning her sword for another charge. "How dare you mock me so!"

Keitaro stumbled backward feeling the blade missed him by a hair breadth. Motoko followed through with the swing, cutting the table he was sitting beside earlier in half. She quickly recovered and spun around, only to find that her cockroach like opponent had already scrambled away.

"Urashima!" She yelled and ran after him… or rather, where she'd thought he went. She slid opened the door to each room and as she ran. She could not trust that vile male to fight honorably, no, he'd most assuredly try to hide and strike from the shadow!

Shinobu's room… plusies and animal stuff toys… a bed… a rather confused looking girl… no Keitaro…

Kaolla Su's room… a jungle… no sign of anything else…

She bounded up the stairs and started checking out the next floor.

Kitsune's room… sofa… shelves upon shelves filled with alcoholic beverages… a drunken young woman dozing off on the floor… still no Keitaro…

Naru-sempai's room… a plusie of a yellow animal of some sort… a shelve full of books… Naru-sempai being molested by one lecherous pervert… n…

"Urashima!" Motoko shouted, bringing her sword to bear. "There you are! Do you think you'd be able to trample on the heart of an innocent maiden and get away with it?"

With a loud battle cry, she summoned her 'ki' and launched her secret technique at him. The man tried to get up but he wasn't as lucky as before and took the blast head on and was thrown head over heel out of the room. The swordswoman started to smirk but ended up frowning instead as he scrambled back onto his feet and started running once again.

"Come back here!" She yelled as she sprinted after him.

"OUGI: ZAN KUU SEN!!!"

Damn, she almost got him that time. Almost. The idiot managed to turn away at the very last second. He was indeed like a cockroach, never quite willing to die.

Motoko chased Keitaro up the stairs and finally unto the roof.

'Does he do athletic or something?' The swordswoman mentally grumbled. She had been training since youth in the area of endurance and agility and he's still out running her.

"Hold still!" She shouted after him as she bounded up another set of stairs, this one leading onto the roof.

"HA!" Motoko cried out, sending a flurry of 'ki' blast at him. Again, he managed to save himself from the worse of it and continued to keep on running.

She chased him across the roof and finally cornered him at a dead end.

"You have no where left to run…" She growled menacingly under her breath, just loud enough for him to hear.

"Prepare to die!"

* * *

Three months earlier (again)

"_**OUGI: ZAN KUU SEN!"**_

_**The Shinmei School's secret technique roared as it rushed by the would-be stalker, having missed him by mere centimeters. Motoko narrowed her eyes at him and dashed forward with a battle cry.**_

"_**How dare you spy on me!**_

_**She swung her sword down, intent on cleaving him in half. He somehow managed to hop to the side and dodged her attack once again, his pig tail whipping about audaciously as he did so. Without missing a beat, Motoko spun around, lashing out at him with another slash. This is it was a horizontal cut. Much to her annoyance, he hopped over her strike and jumped over her.**_

"_**Stay still!" She yelled, swinging around with another strike to which he dodged almost effortlessly, infuriating her even further. She squared her shoulder, lined up her sword and went into a lunge. She smirked; this move left him no room to maneuver, he's done for!**_

_**Apparently the man saw this as well, he leapt back a couple of feet but found himself backed up against her balcony. He's cornered.**_

_**Motoko completed her movement, leveling her sword about a hand length away from his nose.**_

"_**Surrender!" She commanded him. "You have no where left to run."**_

_**The young man spun around and shot a quick glance over the balcony's rail. Motoko sneered at the pale look on his face. It was a back drop; the Aoyama residence is situated upon the top of a mountain and her room is an over hang to a cliff. **_

_**She inched the blade of her Shishui closer to him and gave him a glare as if to say 'hurry up'.**_

_**What happened next came as a shock to her.**_

_**In a split second, he gave her a smirk and promptly disappeared!**_

"_**Wha…?" Motoko muttered in confusion before it hit her.**_

'_**It' being a kung fu sandal clad foot. **_

_**Her assailant, the young man in Chinese T, has not disappeared at all; he jumped. **_

_**He jumped up, landed on her head and flipped over her.**_

_**Motoko fell onto her behind and looked up stupidly and he gave her another one of his arrogant smirks that seemed oh so familiar.**_

…

_**Then realization dawn on her. She stood up and tightened the grip on her sword angrily, causing it to shake. He. Will. Pay.**_

"_**Prepare to die!" She roared and she spun around, ready to skewer him fully this time around.**_

_**FLICK!**_

_**Motoko froze.**_

_**Did he just flick her nose?**_

"_**Motoko-chan" He said endearingly, leaning closer and gave her a warm smile at the same time. Up close his luminous blue eyes suddenly seemed much clearer than before. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, it's not like ya to get so worked up like that Motoko-chan. For a second there you kinda remind me of this Tomboy I know."**_

"…_**A-Aniue?"**_

_**Motoko whispered the word wistfully, feeling a torrent of emotions bubbling beneath her skin. Could it be, after all these years, could it be?**_

_**Could this person be her brother?**_

"_**Yes, Motoko-chan?"**_

_**That tone… that voice… that smile…**_

_**Motoko stared at him dumbly. She was about to drop her sword and hug him but then a part of her a part of her called out.**_

_**No you fool! What are you doing? How could you let him in, you know he'd leave you and hurt you again!**_

_**The girl continued to stare at him, unable to pull her eyes away from his azure orbs.**_

_**Don't do it! Remember what he did! Remember how you felt when he left!**_

_**SLASH!!!**_

"_**Ack! What was **_**that**_** for?" Ranma yelled in surprise, jumping back barely in time to avoid being eviscerated. The girl didn't answer him, she just reverse the sword in her hand and thrust at him once again.**_

"_**Hey, cut that out!" The pig tailed boy yelled once again, this time he didn't completely dodged the blade and receive a nasty hole in his sleeve. He could practically feel the cold edge of steel against his skin.**_

"_**If you have to ask, Saotome, then you obviously deserve everything I have for you!" Motoko said coolly and dangerously, dashing forward and covering the distance between them in a blink of an eye. Her eyes flashed for a second and she unleashed a 'ki' blast at him at point blank.**_

"_**What are you talking about? Stop being all cripti-cryp… confusing like!" Ranma yelled out in frustration, jumping to the side to dodge the attack as he did so.**_

_**He didn't even realize…**_

_**Overcame with her emotions, Motoko abandoned the flashy 'ki' techniques and started slashing away at him once again.**_

"_**How could you! How could you abandon me like that!? You're just like the rest of them! I hate you Ranma Saotome! I. Hate. You."**_

_**She punctuated her last three words with three particular vicious slashes, putting all of her strength behind the strikes. On her last attack, she'd over extended, lost balance and was about to fall over.**_

_**Seeing this, Ranma hopped forward and caught her in his arms.**_

"_**Are you okay, Motoko-chan?"**_

* * *

Motoko blinked. What happened? Where was she? The last thing she remembered was chasing Urashima up to the roof and cornering him then a flash of heat…and then… darkness…

She weakly forced her eyes opened and found herself starring into the clearest blue orbs she'd ever seen.

"…A-Aniue?"

She was pretty sure but she needed a confirmation.

"Are you okay, Mokoto-chan?" Ranma asked, his concern was evidenced in his voice.

Motoko didn't quite know what to do. Would he leaves her alone if she said 'yes'? Would he drop her to go find a doctor if she said 'no'?

'Yes, no, maybe, I do not know… could you repeat the question? Or maybe give me a different one…? Like why are you here, holding me in your arms?'

"A-NI-U-E!!!!!!!!!" The girls screamed loudly as one.

Motoko sighed, at least she did not have to answer that question straight away.

* * *

"This is Ranma Saotome." Motoko explained, pointing at the pig tailed boy sitting behind her. "He's my cousin."

"Cousin!" Their audiences gasped in surprise. They were now sitting about in the living room, waiting for her explanation.

"Yes, cousin." The kendo girl dead panned. "He's the son of my aunt, Nodoka."

"Then why did you…" Kitsune, the silver haired girl began but Motoko cut her off by stating evenly.

"That is because we used close to each other in our childhood. It was but a slip of my tongue"

Ranma winched at bit at the word 'used'. So she obviously hasn't forgiven him for whatever it was he did. This sucked.

"Which brings me to a point," She continued, turning to give a side long glance to Ranma before addressing him coldly. "Why are you here Saotome-san?"

The boy flinched at her tone. Sure, he'd been insulted before by his enemies and fiancées alike, but hearing it from a girl he considered his little sister is another thing.

Hm… what should he say? He can't very well tell her he was here to protect her from the perverted new manager… she'd go ballistic at him like Akane would every time he'd tried giving her a hand. Stupid stubborn tomboys…

"I'm just here to visit ya, Motoko-chan." He answered casually before adding a little bit of teasing. "I can at least do that, can't I?"

"It's 'may' and, no, you may **not** visit me." The swordswoman said in the same icy tone. "This is a female dormitory. I cannot bend the rule even for a relative. It's bad enough we have make allowance for Urashima here."

At the mention of Urashima, Ranma turned to face the said manager and narrowed his eyes. He'd been keeping an eye on Keitaro since the moment he arrived. And although he hasn't showed any sign of Happosai-like behavior so far, the pig tailed martial artist wasn't quite ready to trust him with his little sister yet.

"Ah come on Motoko-chan…" Ranma pleaded, turning to the darkened sky beyond the window. "It's already dark outside; can't I stay here for just **one** night?"

He wasn't afraid of the dark. No, that was just an excuse to stay a bit longer. At first he'd thought to just visit Motoko-chan for a bit and goes home but seeing her actually fighting the manager changed that plan somewhat. Right now he wanted to keep an eye on her for a bit longer.

Ranma scanned the room for potential allies and found the two older girls from earlier… Kitsune and that brown haired one. He quickly summoned his irresistible teary eyed long he'd perfected a long time ago and stared at them pleadingly.

Motoko almost snorted when she heard Ranma's excuse for staying. Preposterous, Ranma Saotome may not be much of anything but one thing she'd grudgingly admitted was his skill. He's almost untouchable to her… a feat none has yet to claim apart from her older sister, Tsuruko.

For a martial artist of his caliber to be afraid of walking home late was laughable.

She was about to voice her opinion of his pathetic attempt at an excuse when Naru-sempai and other tenants made a couple of comments which slackened her jaw.

"Why not?" Kitsune commented off handedly. "I don't mind having a stud like him over. He's welcome to stay in my room is he want."

"It's rather cruel isn't Motoko-san" Shinobu said.

"I don't see how it do any harm." Naru-sempai reasoned. "I mean, it's not like your cousin's a pervert or anything is he?"

Motoko shook her head grudgingly.

At this point, Kaolla Su started jumping up and down on the couch. Her smile almost oozed exuberant energy.

"Playmate! Playmate!" She chanted happily.

They all turned to the only person who hasn't spoken yet, Keitaro Urashima, the new manager of Hinata-sou. He gulped nervously, feeling all the attention in the room focused onto his person.

'Wow, I didn't think my opinion would matter.' Keitaro thought, clearing his throat to speak.

"It's only just one night right? What can go wrong?"

* * *

Author's note: Famous last words, Keitaro… famous last words…

Muah ha ha ha h Gack, cak, cak.

Damn, I thought I wasn't going to do the whole evil laughing thing anymore. Stupid me…

Anyway, how was that? Did you enjoy it? I really surprise at the amount of response the first chapter garnered really and kinda flattered too, I guess.

This one is a bit Motoko centered… but I think it should be, most of the Ranma ½ fan probably don't know much about her and since she's pretty important in this fic, I kinda figured it was needed. Don't worry though, next chapter will be different.

As always, reviews are welcome and deeply appreciated.

Krimzon and Rayne.

* * *

p.s. How many of you reckon this fic should be romantic? I figured it would be more humor and drama driven but who knows… What do you guys think? 


	3. Eloquences of an equine

'_**By Calm Water'**_

* * *

By Krimzonrayne no Akai Kou Hana and Rayne no Akai Hinageshi.

Chapter Three: All the eloquences of an equine

* * *

An example of an understatement would be that people have a knack for understatement, cause, didn't Einstein says something about there being only two things in the Universe which are constant… one being the speed of light in vacuum and another being human stupidity. And that he wasn't even sure about the former.

* * *

"I guess that settles it then." Kitsune said with a note of finality. The silver haired girl turned to the cute guy in the red Chinese T and smiled affectionately as she stood up.

"Well it's been a long day; I'm off to the bath." She announced before slinking off. As she passes Ranma, she leant over to him and whispered huskily into his ear. "You can join me if you want." Ignoring the outrageous look Naru and Motoko were giving her, Kitsune gave him a wink and scooted out of the living room.

As soon as her friend has left, Naru shifted her eyes back onto the handsome martial artist and blushed slightly. He looked like a more rugged and younger version of Mr. Seta, a Tokyo U's professor which she used to have a crush on. Sensing her attention, Ranma met her eyes and gave a small disarming smile that blew her away.

Poor Ranma, his goal has been to convince the tenants to let him stay. And if he know what he's doing to himself right then, he would definitely have strangled himself to prevent it.

Oh well, they did say hind sight is twenty, twenty.

Naru suppressed her blush and stood up. "I guess I'd better show you where you're sleeping." She said to Ranma, taking an extra care not to meet his eyes. It was bad enough that she blushes insanely whenever he smiles at her, she didn't need to be swooning on her feet as well.

Ranma followed suit and stood up after her. He was half way out of his seat when Motoko spoke out.

"Wait Naru-sempai." The swordswoman urged, rising from her seat slowly. Although she was still lightheaded from the cold and from having chased Keitaro around earlier, there was no mistaking the obvious attraction Naru and Kitsune has towards her brother. There's no way she'd let that happen, upperclassman and fellow tenant or not.

"You need not trouble yourself; after all, Saotome-san is my cousin. It would be my obligation to show him his place of rest for the night." She said, placing a hand on the dinner table to prop herself up. She gritted her teeth but didn't say anything even if her knees were about to give out under her.

"But Motoko-chan, shouldn't you be lying down or something?" Keitaro said. Motoko glared at him but this time his worry for her outweighed his fear of being launch into orbit and so he kept on going. "You're not helping yourself being up and about when you're sick like this."

"SICK!!!" Ranma cried out almost hysterically while the remaining occupants of the room sweat dropped. They could not believe this was the same man as the calm and collect martial artist who was practically exuding an air of confidant earlier. They watched on in slight wonderment as he rushed over to the stunned raven haired girl.

"Motoko-chan, are you all right? What's wrong? Will you be okay?!?!" The pig tailed boy fired off his questions in rapid succession at the poor girl, all the while shaking her back and forth like a rag doll.

"Pretty colors…" The kendo girl mumbled incoherently. Her eyes were spinning widely in there sockets and she was disorientated to say the least. "…oh swirlys…"

"Gah! She must be really burning up! She's delirious!" Ranma proclaimed, turning to the others who flinched as they backed away from the raving man. "Call the doctor!"

BONK!!!

"Let me go Saotome." Motoko said calmly, dropping the 'san' and glaring at him as she did so. Only once he allowed her to stand up on her own did she lower the sheathed sword that she smacked him with. She still held on to it of course, there's no telling when her bigger brother might go gah gah on her again.

"But Motoko-chan, you're…" Ranma began to interject but only to be cut off by the sword wielding girl. Not literally, of course, she wasn't quite strong enough to do that at the moment.

"I will be fine after a night of rest." She said cooling, still glaring at him as if she was daring him to argue with her. He didn't say anything but still to hold her gaze without backing down. He's Ranma Saotome after all, beside what kind of big brother would he be if he's afraid of his little sister?

Just as the air between them was about to ignite from all the tension, Keitaro cleared his throat nervously, breaking off the impromptu starring match.

"How about I show Saotome-san his room? After all, I'm the manager; it would be a part of my duty to do that anyway." He said slowly, looking back and forth between the two ersatz siblings.

Motoko opened her mouth then closed it again. She had wanted to protest at first but when she thought about it, there's no real reason for her to do that anymore. Beside, a futon was starting to sound wonderful right about then as well.

Now all that's left for her to do was…

"Naru-sempai," She called the brown haired girl over. "Would you care to join me for a few moments? I would like a word with you in private."

'There, done.'

She turned back to Ranma to give him one last glare before leaving the room.

Ranma sighed softly and followed her with his eyes. Darn it, why does she have to be so darn stubborn?

Oh the irony, it's too bad the pig tailed boy probably wouldn't get it even if someone came up to him and explained it in plain simple Japanese.

Shinobu Maehara introduced herself shyly, stuttering a bit but not too badly anymore. She didn't seem to be as afraid of him as she originally was. He guessed that's a good thing… but then again, it's always kind of hard to tell with him.

He glanced around the room in search for that rambunctious kid who was bouncing about a while back. The way she intoned 'playmate, playmate' earlier worried him a bit.

Finding no trace of her, Ranma turned to the only other male in the room and said nonchalantly. "I guess it's just me and you, huh?"

Keitaro shivered as a sudden chill swept down his spine.

He cautiously met the pig tailed boy's gaze. Expecting to find furious anger or cold malice, he was quite surprised to see that Ranma wasn't about to kill him any time soon.

Ranma smirked at the glassed man jovially, his eyes twinkling in merriment.

Still… it wouldn't do for Ranma to have a wrong impression of him. After all, if he's anything like Moto… Aoyama-san… if he's anything like Aoyama-san… it wouldn't be good for his health.

"Em, Saotome-san, about earlier…" The young manager began stammering his explanation about what happened earlier but he was abruptly cut off by Ranma.

"Say… weren't you about to show me to my room?" The martial artist said loudly, his voice overriding Keitaro's. Without giving him the chance to object, Ranma quickly ushered the older boy out the door. He gave Shinobu who was working in the kitchen a wave before following the manager out into the corridor.

"Saotome-san…?" Keitaro said nervously, wondering what the heck was going on.

Ranma shot him a deceptively sweet smile but didn't say anything in return. Not knowing what to do, Keitaro decided to leave the matter alone, if the man didn't want to bring it up then he saw no need to wake a sleeping dragon.

However, as they walked down the hall, he still kept sneaking glances at Ranma nervously. He was baffled by the younger boy's behavior… while on the roof, Keitaro was about lose control of his bladder from fright but now the pig tailed boy was acting all comfortable-like… as he was a different person…

Ranma, however, was enjoying the other guy's obvious distress. Sure he couldn't do anything big without pissing off Motoko-chan even further, but that didn't mean he couldn't do anything at all…

'Oho ho ho ho… huh?!?!'

Ranma suddenly dove to the side as his spider-sense tingled.

'Wait a second, I don't have spider-sense?!… Darn, I got to get that Spiderman's trailer thingie outta my head.'

His eyes flicked upwards just in time to caught sight of a blur flying over him. Ranma gulped; whatever it was, it would've caught him right on the neck, had he move a split second slower.

However, a certain two years ronin wasn't so lucky.

"Gackk!!!" Keitaro cried out as he took Kaolla Su's patented flying knee kick right on the kisser.

"Nice kid." Ranma deadpanned softly just loud enough for himself to hear.

The foreign girl blinked as she looked at the dazed looking manager beneath her.

"Keitaro? Dang I missed him." Kaolla muttered, soundly only slightly disappointed. She turned on her original target and narrowed her eyes at him. "How'd ya do that Ranma?"

"I was lucky?" The boy said teasingly, feigning innocence. Just as he'd predicted, Su didn't get all angry like a certain Tomboy would, instead she became very intrigued and quite taken with him. Ranma smiled, it seemed like he'd won over another one.

"Ranma's fun! Come on, come play with me." The young girl chirped cheerfully, scrambling towards said Ranma on all four like a playful dog.

Ranma dodged the flying tackle from her while trying to negotiate something out. "I'm sorry Su-chan, I need to get settled in first… How about I play with you later?"

Su looked at him thoughtfully for a moment before giving in. She chimed a loud 'Okie dokie!' and leapt away.

The pig tailed boy looked after her with a feeling of contentment. He'd seen her for a few minutes but he already knew he liked her. For him, Su was like a better version of Shampoo… she has all the Amazon's cheerful, vivacious energy, exoticism and none of her bad points… there's nothing complicate about her… playing with her was just simple and unadulterated fun, there was no string attach.

Ranma shook his head; this was not what he's here for, he'd better start paying attention to the matter at hand. Speaking of which…

He turned towards the guy who was picking on his little sister earlier and found him still slightly broken on the floor. He walked over the guy's prone form and gripped him by his collars. Then he began shaking.

"Are you alright, Keitaro?" Ranma asked with false sincerity. After all, it won't do if someone else saw him speaking rudely to the manager. No, that would ruin the whole illusion.

Muah ha ha ha.

Despite the fact that Ranma was shaking him back and forth like a sack of potato, Keitaro eventually recovered. After that he dazedly led Ranma up a flight of stairs and to one of the many vacant rooms.

Upon reaching their destination, Ranma took a look left and right, making sure no one was following them and promptly booted Keitaro into his room. The Tokyo entrance's exam flunkey gave a strangled cry as he landed nose first on the relatively solid tatami floor.

Ranma quickly closed the door behind them and walked menacingly over to the fallen manager who was eyeing him fearfully.

"S-Saotome-san…?" Keitaro intoned, his voice filled with dreads. He quickly scampered backward but the Anything Goes practitioner was faster. The pig tailed boy practically flew across the room and hoisted him up by the lapel before slamming him into the wall.

Gently, of course, Ranma didn't want him dead… yet.

Seeing that the other man was sufficiently cowed, Ranma spoke in a quiet voice that somehow carried a far more intimidating tenor than Motoko-chan's war cries.

"Alright Punk, listen and little closely, cause this will be the last time I'm saying this." He paused to make sure the other guy hasn't passed out or anything. "Stay the hell away from my little sister!"

"But I…" Keitaro tried to explain that it wasn't him who started the duel but his mouth stopped moving as soon as he saw what Ranma did.

What was it that Ranma did?

Well, he took one hand off of Keitaro and brought it up between the two of them before expending his 'ki' and summoned forth a ball of pulsating azure ball of blinding hot plasma… a inch from the young manager's nose…

It was far enough that it didn't affect him but close enough for him to feel the immense wave of heat radiating from it.

"…thought that Motoko-chan is your cousin." Keitaro finished lamely before snapping his jaw shut and swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Ranma gave him the 'Do-I-look-like-I-care?' look and slowly lowered him back down to the ground, still keeping his grip on the man's collar however.

"Are we clear, _Urashima-san_?" He sneered at him evilly.

Keitaro nodded half a dozen times in a quick succession.

"Good." Ranma said simply before turning towards the door. Just as the young manager was about to let out a huge breath of relief, he quickly spun around and wagged a finger at the fallen man.

"Because I'll be watching you and if you _do_ try anything…" He drifted off ominously.

Keitaro shook his head from side to side so quickly he thought his head was about to fall off. However, that didn't stop him from kept on shaking it until almost a minute after the boy had left.

Oh yes, after facing down ghosts, demons, mythical beings, a dragon descendent and a phoenix god, Ranma Saotome could be really scary when he wanted to be.

* * *

Motoko took in a deep breath and heaved her body up another step. She let loose a sigh upon seeing that it was the last one. Behind her was Naru-sempai, she was plodding up the stairs with a slightly dejected look on her face. Sure, she wanted to see to her friend well being and all that, but it's just a cold, right? She's missing out on some quality time with her Ranma for crying out loud!

The kendo practitioner looked over her shoulder at her dear sempai and frowned. Sure she was not familiar with all this romance stuff but even _she_ could tell that there was something off about Naru-sempai, the girl has been blushing non stop since she'd first met Aniue, how obvious was that?

'Stupid Aniue, why did you have to grow up to be so handsome?' Motoko mentally grumbled.

Gack! Bad thought, bad thought… he's your brother dammit!

…

Okay, let's just pretend that that conversation never took place.

"Motoko-chan…?" Naru-sempai called out to the fever ridden girl, sounding slightly worried. Motoko-chan has always been really strong, how bad must her fever be to have caused her to walk right pass her room like that?

Motoko-chan seemed to have slowed down a bit, allowing the light brown haired girl to catch up with her. She steered the confused girl around and ushered into her room. Naru brought her to the futon and covers Motoko has left in disarray with her hasty departure earlier.

She tucked the sick girl in and sat down to watch over her with a contemplative look on her face.

What should she do? On one hand, she really, really wanted to know more about Ranma but at the same time, Motoko-chan, in her current condition, wasn't exactly up to playing twenty questions with her either. She didn't want to come across as interrogating the poor girl while she's sick or anything. Dilemma, dilemma…

"Alright, what is it?" A tired and annoyed voice interrupted Naru's musing.

"Huh? What did you say Motoko-chan?" Naru said in surprise. She looked at Motoko who was now sitting up on the futon with concern. "You should be resting Motoko-chan."

"I was trying to when a certain someone's constant muttering prevent me from doing so…"

Naru coughed nervously, looking away.

"I'm sorry for bothering you, Motoko-chan, it's just that your cousin is a very… interesting… person."

"That is alright Naru-sempai; I can understand your curiosity." Motoko said with resignation, she knew she'd be continuously pressed about this issue until she finally tell them about it, so she wasn't angry with Naru-sempai or anything… it just… couldn't they've waited one more day? Although, was it because she wanted to be well when she relay her story or because she wanted Ranma to be gone, she was not sure.

She sighed, oh well, it was best she get it over and done with.

"Please… ask whatever you wish." She told the older girl.

Naru has the decency to look slightly guilty but still… she wasn't about to let the opportunity goes to waste!

"Ahm… could you tell me a bit more about your cousin?" Naru asked somewhat hesitantly.

"As you know, Ani… Saotome-san is my cousin." Motoko started off slowly. "We first met when I was eight years old. He and his father, Genma, were on a martial artist's journey, traveling across the land to hone their skills and perfect their techniques."

"They stayed at our school for a couple of months as Ani… Ranma-san learned the basic swordsmanship. He quickly mastered those and the more advance ones as well. And…" Here, Motoko seemed strained… as if she had to force the words out of his mouth.

"…and eventually he moved on. He got what he was after and he moved on."

"After that, I have not seen or heard from him again for the last ten years. It wasn't until him and his mother, Aunty Nodoka, visited last New Years that I know he was still alive."

Naru blinked uneasily, she was sure there's a lot more to it than that but she'd respect Motoko-chan's desire for the matter to remain private… for now.

Seeing the look on the older girl's face, Motoko took a guess at what Naru-sempai wanted to ask.

"I have not been keeping contact with him since, therefore I have absolutely no idea what his taste in girl, cuisine or movie are. I cannot help you there, Naru-sempai."

Sufficient to say, she got it wrong.

* * *

"You know, I thought I'd never say this I a million year," Ranma pondered aloud to himself, trudging along what seemed like a foray of dense rainforest or a Brazilian jungle. "But, dammit Ryoga, I feel your pain."

Yep, Ranma Saotome, age eighteen, heir to the Anything Goes School of martial arts, fiancé of countless young women, arguably the most powerful martial artist in his generation … lost.

Lost as Ryoga in a one door room.

How the heck did he get himself into this situation anyway? It all started so innocently, first he complied with his promise to play with Su-chan then they decided to play tag. After agreeing to be 'oni' ('It' in Japanese Tag), he chased the young foreigner up and down the stairs for a bit, struggling not to lose sight of her. She was surprising fast, a heck of a lot faster than the pig tailed boy had expected.

The she disappeared into one of the room so he followed her into it as well.

Then he found himself in a jungle.

Ranma turned around a couple of times, trying to find some way of orientating himself before he get even more lost he already was. He was pretty sure he pulled a Ryoga and somehow left Hinata-sou… because there's no way there could be an rainforest inside a building, much less there being one on the second floor…

Right?

ROAR!!!

Ranma blinked as a big brown bear suddenly appeared in front of him. Without warning, it lashed out at him with its claws. It was the pig tailed boy's insane reflexes that saved him as he suddenly sprang backwards, out of the reach of the powerful claws.

Damn the thing was huge… He remembered seeing something about Alaskan Kodiak brown bears growing to the size of up to ten feet and weighing up to two thousand five hundreds pounds on the discovery channel when Nabiki was watching it to piss annoy off.

Hang on a sec, what's a Kodiak brown doing in Japan?

Shrugging those thoughts aside for the moment, Ranma dodged another furious swipe of the claws and retaliated with a jumping side kick.

CLANG!!!

Huh? What the heck was that? Since when did a bear go clang when he hits it?

The 'bear' took the kick badly and keeled over, hitting the ground with a loud mechanical clang once again. Ranma watched on, sweat dropping a little as tendrils of smoke began rise from its open mouth and ears.

Of course this hardly fazed him; after all, he'd been through much weirder stuffs in the past.

_Self-destruct sequence initiated…3…2…1… Have a good day!_

Or not…

KABOOM!!!

…

"Ack, gack gack… what the heck was that?" Ranma asked out loud after coughing a good lungful of sooths he'd inadvertently inhaled during the explosion. He slowly got up, feeling a bit relief that he was still alive.

The young martial artist's ears perked up, was that…? He quickly dove to the side once more as his danger sense suddenly went crazy. He wondered for whole split second whether it was just his imagination before a tell tale 'whoosh' passed by his raven locks.

'That exploding robot beat thingie was a distraction?'

He whipped his head back up and saw a familiar petite figure swinging by on a vine. One he recognized the pale blond hair and the tanned skin as Kaolla Su, his mouth curved up in a genuine smile.

That girl sure knew how to have fun. Too bad she's not quick enough to catch him off guard… for a second there he'd thought he'd found a decent AND fun challenge… oh well… it was too bad really…

SPLAT!!!

Ranma slowly reached up with a hand and scraped off the banana that went 'splat' against his face. His smile widened in glee, maybe there's hope after all.

"Su-chan!!!"

And with that the battle was joined.

(Half an hour later)

"Kaolla-san! Ranma-san!" Shinobu Maehara, the young chief of Hinata-sou, said urgently, knocking on the door leading to Su's room. She slowly slid the door opened, trying her best not to intrude whatever the two was doing. "Dinner is… ready?"

The reason her words kind of trailed off like that was because on the other side of the door were the two person she was seeking stuffing themselves at breakneck speed with bananas… mountains upon mountains of bananas.

"Aiam oot oozing! (I'm not losing!)" The pig tailed boy said through a mouthful of bananas.

"Aiam oot eider! (I'm not either!) Su said in much the same way in her accented Japanese.

They carried on along this same line for a few more pairs of bananas before both stopped their eating competition and turned to look at the newcomer, namely Shinobu. Su swallowed the half of the banana that was sticking out of her mouth whole and turned over to the young cooked.

"Ah Shinobu, whatcha doing here?" She asked her curiously.

"Ahm…I-I'm, t-that is, I-I came here to tell you that dinner is ready." Shinobu stammered out, looking back and forth between the two and the hem of her skirt. But her diffident was completely lost to the two gluttons…eh… food fanatics… em, I mean connoisseurs, yeah that's it, connoisseurs.

"Yay!" The two chorused, suddenly jumping up and began dancing as if they've been practicing for synchronization for a whole week.

"Food, food!" Su chanted almost zealously.

"Yeah, those bananas really got me hungry." Ranma chimed in his two cents.

The young Maehara looked at the two huge piles of banana peels by their side with only one thought in her mind.

Maybe she should've cooked up more food.

* * *

Dinner was a subdued affair at Hinata-sou that night.

Motoko, the resident swordswoman was absent due to her illness but that wasn't the course of the serious air which hung above them. No, the reason for that was because of a certain pig tailed martial artist.

"A-Are you okay Ranma-san?" Shinobu asked hesitantly, wondering why he was having trouble eating her food. It couldn't possibly be because her cooking was bad… could it?

Noooo!!!!

Unbeknownst to poor girl, that wasn't the case at all. Her cooking was great actually, almost up to par with Kasumi's heaven sent delicacies. Although, even if she was nothing more than an average cook, Ranma would've still be able to eat it with no trouble at all anyway… He wasn't picky… and heck, you'd probably be hard pressed to try to find a food that's worse than some of the stuff he had forced down his throat.

Ranma shivered, thoughts of Akane's cookings are NOT appetizing, no, they're in fact a lot closer to nightmarish to be honest.

In reality the reason for his difficulty with eating at the moment was quite opposite.

He's having trouble restraining himself to eating like a normal person.

"Would you like some more water?" Naru asked hopefully, relishing the idea of serving her new crush.

Ranma shook his head jerkily; he didn't want anymore worries right now. He slowly swallowed another mouthful of the heavenly food.

'Must. Eat. Slowly…. No matter how good the food is… ' He mentally reminded himself as he reached out _slowly_ with his chopsticks and _slowly_ took a strip of beef and _slowly_ put it in his mouth and _slowly_ chewed before _slowly_ swallowed it.

'Oh god, this is torture.'

Just as he thought it couldn't get any worse Naru accidentally spilt her glass of water, sending a splash of gender altering liquid towards him!

"Oh wow! What a cool trick!" Kitsune cried.

"Yeah, I kinda picked it up in China." Ranma said carefully, trying to sound nonchalantly about it. His chopsticks were a single circular disk-shaped blur as he spun in like a helicopter rotor to deflect the incoming water.

Phew, that was a close one. If it wasn't for that weird prince who uses chopsticks, he would've been done for.

Finally deciding that it was far too dangerous for him to keep on staying at the table, Ranma, with great reluctant, stood up slowly and said.

"It's been a long day; I think I'm going to go check up on Motoko-chan one last time before turning in early." He announced morosely, still a bit miffed at having to leave all that yummy food. "Thanks for the meal, Shinobu-chan; it was really good."

Ignoring Kitsune's not so subtle hints at the possibility of him joining her far a late night clandestine later on in her room, Ranma made his way up to Motoko-chan room. He quietly slipped inside, being careful to disturb her rest. He moved across the tatami floor gracefully and without making a sound. He knelt down beside the slumbering girl and sighed softly.

"Motoko-chan…" He intoned softly, reaching out with his hand to brush aside a stray strand of hair that was draped across her otherwise tranquil face. "I miss you, you know that right?"

She continued to breathe in and out evenly, showing no sign of having heard his words.

"I'm sorry for leaving Motoko-chan…" He continued softly, resisting the urge to draw his little sister in for a tight embrace. He sat like that for almost ten minutes in silence before starting to get up to leave.

Just as he was sliding the door open, Motoko-chan began to toss and turn ever so slightly, causing him to turn around to look at her once more.

"No… don't go… Keitaro… my first love… please, don't leave…"

Ranma's eyes widened to the size of saucers… the flying kind.

* * *

The morning came like it usually does; its crimson rays roused the wearied mind of the residents of Hinata-sou… even one Motoko Aoyama.

Feeling a thousand times better than she was when she went to bed the previous night, the swordswoman was determined not to waste today as well. She quickly rose and changed before joining the other down below just as Maehara-san was about to bring out breakfast.

"Good morning Maehara-san. It seemed we have not been introduced properly the day before due to my sickness." She said formally but in a warm tone nonetheless.

"T-That's okay Motoko-san, you were ill, there's nothing to it." Shinobu said, still stammering slightly at talking to the tall girl.

Motoko smiled, it seemed she and Maehara-san would get on well after all. She walked over to the table and took her usual seat. Looking around she was beginning to realize that something was amiss.

"Where is my cousin, Saotome-san?" She asked casually, trying not to sound too concerned about his whereabouts.

"Oh I'm sorry Motoko-chan but your stud of a cousin, Ranma-kun, left this morning while you were still asleep." Kitsune answered, sounding slightly annoyed at missing her chance to snag one of the biggest catch she'd seen all year.

"Oh…" Motoko intoned, sounding subdued and disappointed.

'He did not even say goodbye.'

She stared down at her plate thoughtfully, picking at her food for a while before placing her chopsticks across her rice bowl.

"If there is no other matter which require my attention, please excuse me, I need to go practice." She said curtly, rising out of her seat.

"Actually I almost forgot, we're having a new tenant," Naru-sempai said suddenly. "She's coming over today too."

"I see," Motoko said with disinterest. She should be more polite about it but right now she could not bring herself to do so. Still…

"What is her name?" She asked, trying to sound like she cared.

"Naoko Tendo, I think."

* * *

Author's note: OH NOES!!! What are you doing? You're ruing it by bringing in a Mary Sue OC!?!?

… God, if any of you are going like that then you're a buncha idiots… seriously…

Anyway, a cookie to you if you can guess who 'Naoko' is. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out anyway. And no, it is not an original character.

So… how did you guys find the chapter? A heck of a lot more plot advancement than the last chapter huh? Please make me feel appreciated by reviewing in kind… cause 1st chapter reeled in more review than the last one… and I'm still feeling slightly unsure of how I'm doing…

Whatever! Enough rambling about my fragile ego… I should just go get a spinal replacement and be done with it.

Still… review please.

* * *

p.s. is it just me or are most, if not all, OCs turns out to be Mary-Sue or Self-Inserts? I mean, seriously, it's so hard to find a decent OC these days. 


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